There is a tendency to confuse these two completely different eras. The Regency followed immediately on the heels of the Georgian period, and was just about as freewheeling. The Victorian was, on the outside, buttoned up and prudish. Sex was, for all intents and purposes, pushed underground.
So here are just some of the difference between the times.
The garment a woman wore over her shift, or chemise was usually called stays, during the Regency. Although the term corset did exist. Yet there was huge difference in how they were made and what their purpose was. During the Regency stays were meant to smooth the lines for the high-waisted gown. They were not tight as there was no reason to accentuate the waist. There were two kinds, short and long. Many young ladies would have worn sort stays. Even when waists dropped between 1830 and 1830, the stays were not tightened as they were later on. Victorian corsets were made to make the waist smaller. They also made it much harder to breathe and many doctors considered them a health hazard. A whole movement grew up in protest of tight corsets.
The phrase, lay back and think of England, was Victorian. That’s because, after Freud came out with his theory that women didn’t need help having an orgasm, men no longer felt it necessary to make sure a woman enjoyed herself. During the Regency, it was a point of pride that a woman came. They also believed that a woman had to reach completion in order to conceive.
During the Regency, several well-known philosophers supported and encouraged women’s rights. Even though the laws didn’t change, women became, in many ways, more independent. Women as well as men took lovers. No one thought twice about a bluestocking setting up her own household after she had reached the proper age. Women of all sorts held salons where artists, writers, politicians, and other interesting people would gather. The Victorian era slammed the door shut on those blossoming rights and philosophies. It was not unusual for an unmarried woman (older spinsters and widows) to come under the boot of a man. It was also not uncommon for a woman to be placed in an institution for the mentally incompetent for disagreeing with a male member of her family too often or too strenuously.
During the Regency a widow was in mourning for a year for her husband. The first six months was full-mourning. She wore black. Close friends and family could, and, hopefully did, visit her. But she did not go to parties, dinners, etc. The second six months was half-mourning. She was allowed to wear gray and other subdued colors. But not lavender. As a color, it had not yet been invented. She could go out to subdued gatherings. Once her year of mourning was over, she was expected to rejoin Polite Society. Mourning for a child, or sibling was generally much shorter. I’ve heard times of six weeks for a baby, and up to three months for a grown sibling. Parents were generally about six months. During the Victorian era, morning for one’s husband was expanded to two years. One year of full-mourning, the next year of half-mourning. Other periods of mourning were also lengthened.
Chaperoning of young unmarried ladies was significantly different as well. During the Regency, once a lady was betrothed, she and her soon-to-be husband were allowed to be alone for significant periods of time, anywhere, including closed carriages. In fact, it was expected they would anticipate their vows. Therefore, engagements were usually short and gentlemen could not cry off without ruining a lady’s reputation. If he decided he did not want to marry her after all, he had to find some way to make her jilt him. During the Victorian period, ladies were chaperoned up to the wedding day. They did not spend time alone with their betrothed until they were man and wife.
Only footmen and the coachman wore a uniform during the Regency. The wearing of uniforms by female servants was Victorian.
#RegencyTrivia #HistoricalRomance #ReadaRegency
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